Louisville area ranks high for diesel pollution

The Louisville metropolitan area ranks as the nation's 30th worst metropolitan area for diesel pollution, according to a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Clean Air Task Force.

Overall, the state of Kentucky ranks about average in the number of deaths related to diesel pollution, the report said.

The Louisville metropolitan area ranked in the 90th percentile for areas with the worst rates of diesel exhausts and for health problems stemming from diesel pollution, according to the report. Overall, more than 200 metropolitan areas across the nation were studied for the report. Kentucky ranked 23 among a list of 49 states for having the worst diesel pollution.

In Kentucky, fine particles from diesel fumes were responsible for 198 premature adult deaths during 1999, which was the year the report used to gather its data. Other negative health conditions from diesel fumes included 3,764 asthma attacks and 213 heart attacks, the report said.

New York ranked first, with 2,332 deaths, and the total number nationwide was more than 20,000, the report said.

"Diesel exhaust may be the single most severe air pollution threat to people's health in heavily populated urban areas across the country," Conrad Schneider, the group's advocacy director, said in a news release.

The Clean Air Task force called on congressional support for regional efforts to set goals for reducing diesel emissions, especially those aiming to outfit school and transit buses with "clean" fuels and pollution-control devices.

Click here to view the report's findings on Kentucky and other states.